THE SOLOMONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17690, 30 July 1919, Page 8

THE SOLOMONS

AN OUTPOST OF THE WHITE RACE. Captain G. L. Tacon, who was visiting the Solomons when the war broke out, and who left to take his part in tho great conflict, recently revisited the islands, and in the course of an interview with a representative of the' Christchurch Press ha gave some interesting information regarding affairs in that outpost of the white race in the Pacific. After an absence of 4A years, Mr Tacon found ■conditions much alterad 1 ; many of the younger men of tho European population having gone to tho war, some never to return. Mr Charles Workman, a man of very varied colonial experienoa, gained chiefly in Australia and Fiji, and a man of marked ability a.nd administrative initiative, had been appointed British Commissioner, and with his sympathetic co-opera-tion planters' associations had been formed throughout tho group. The primary objects of these associations are:—(l) That the islands should remain under the direct control of the Imperial Government; (2) to achievo the effectivo occupation by the British of tho islands by psople to whom the climatic conditions are suitable, (a) by tho resumption and utilisation of unoccupied _ and „ waste native lands, and (b) by providing, or obtaining, an adequatesupply of tropical labour from outside the islands; (3) direct representation in thegovernment of the islands, similar to that obtaining in Fiji—the islands to remain under the Colonial Office, and not attached to Australia; and (4) that after all the requirements of the natives aro provided for_ and ample reserves made for the natives, the unoccupied and wasto lands be resumed, and settlement thereon encouraged. Tho position is, Mr Tacon explained, that the Solomon Islanders are dying out; the land is extremely fertile, and the "islands aro within eight or nine days' steam of China and Japan, and four or five dnys? steam of Australia and New Zcakmd. The Solomons are extensive, and can carry with comfort a large population capable of withstanding the climatic conditions—and the Chinese and Japanese come within that category. It is not a white man's country, and it cannot be colonised except with tropical labourers. The aggregate area of the islands is about equal to the area of

Java, which carries a population of 40.000,000.' " The Solomons," Mr Tocon continued, "and the adjacent islands, are tho buffer between tho white and yellow ra<res in these seas; to the north" are 500,000,000 Chinese and Japanese, to the. south 6.000,000 white people, far removed and isolated from their main base. That the white population in the Solomons feel their position acutely is shown by the formation of the planters"' associations. When I was there recently I sa-\v Japanese trading craft going in and out of Fnisi, tho northernmost port of tho islands; they were being turned back by the Resident Government Officer, and were being refused traders' licenses in the group. These so-called traders appeared to be educated men,_ and there is no doubt in my minds, or in tho mind of any white man down there, that their appearance was a part of a plan to obtain a trading footing on ths ground. And I think thnt that effort will be continued. It behoves the white people of Australia and New Zealand to reccgniso that the white planters of the Solomons are endeavouring to protcct the interests of the peoples of Australasia, and the interests of "their children. If the clash comes between yellow and wliito in tho Pacific—and it seems to be inevitable sooner or later—it will bo felt first in the Solomons. The group possesses some magnificent harbours suitable for bases for the biggest ships. Tho British can hold the islands only by tho effective occupation, and that cannot be done without an adequate supply of tractable tropical labour, sny, from India or Java. It is to bo hoped that those who control tho destinies of New Zealand and Australia will s?e to it that tho white incn in these outposts are upheld liy all t,ho_ strength that can be brought- to boar.. It is a working men's question—it raises th:> •whole question of the maintenance of the white rnan's standard of Irving in theso larich under the Southern Cross."